us. I roll my eyes at the sneers and posturing bullshit but then the Bear pauses in front of me, snarling, “You don’t belong at the table and soon enough you won’t be fucking sitting at it. You won’t even be in the fucking city.”
I freeze, but he’s already scurrying away like the little fucking cockroach he is.
“Did he just fucking threaten you?” Aodhan snaps, and I roll my shoulders back to straighten up.
“Forget about it. He’s not distracting us from tonight—“ I pause, the words dying in my throat as I watch the Bear hand Atticus a slip of paper and fuck. Fuck.
The Viper had chosen the pairings in the last round.
It’s the Bear’s turn.
“He’s going to put them together. He’s going to pair two of our three, we both know it,” I murmur, and Illi stares him down as he takes his place across the room from us.
“If he does, he’s dead. If he does, no diamond is gonna save him from the wrath of the Wolf. Harley will fucking lose it.”
I glance over to where Aodhan and Jack are talking but neither of them look worried. I’m actually shocked at how calm Aodhan seems, like this is all following a plan, when really everything is going to shit. I should have just had the Bear killed and asked for forgiveness when the dust settled afterward.
Aodhan notices me looking and tilts his head at me, as close to a reassurance as I’ll get from him in this room, filled to the brim with people who would slit our throats and take our place at the round table of the Twelve in a second if they thought they could get away with it.
Illi leans in to whisper to me, “No matter what happens, tonight changes shit. The Bear just threatened you directly, Queenie. He’s dead. The Twelve isn’t the top threat in the Bay anymore. We are.”
I nod and take a half step toward him, letting his body shield me a little more from the smirking asshole across the room. I need the comfort and security of Ash tucking me into his side right now, but Illi is a good stand-in.
I understand why it is that Lips has always been so loyal to him.
“I’m calling the kid when we get out of here. Shit is gonna change around here right the fuck now,” Illi snarls, his voice still quiet and meant just for me, but the crowd around us hears the tone and backs away like their asses are on fire. I nod and wait for Atticus to announce the next fight.
He stares the Bear down as well, his eyes a slow and meticulous assessment of just how far this man is going to push us all tonight.Then he looks down at the list and calls out the first names.
In under a minute the fight starts, the first of twelve we have to sit through.
It takes forever, the bigger of the two men intent on actually beating the other man to death, which is not at all a quick process when you’re inexperienced.
Ash or Harley could handle it in a third of the time.
One by one, Atticus reads out the list, and every time I don’t hear any of our three competitors, my stomach churns more and more.
When ten fights have been held and five dead bodies have been dragged out of the ring, I pray.
I pray that Luca and Lucy have been paired together. I pray that he gives her a swift death and that she feels no pain, because there’s no way that Jack will kill a woman. No way, I know it without even looking at him.
“Luca and Jack.”
My heart stops in my chest as Illi starts cursing up a storm under his breath. Luca blows out a breath and looks to Atticus. He stares over at the Bear, and I’m about to pull my gun and take the asshole out, end this entire fucking farce right here, but Aodhan slaps Jack on the back as he steps forward and I blanch.
How the fuck is he so calm right now?
They step into the ring and I want to scream. Aodhan’s hand slips into mine, squeezing gently as he leans in to me, completely disregarding the audience we have, and murmurs, “He’s wanted to die for a long time, Queenie. He wants to go be with Amara, wherever their souls end up, and I can’t keep asking him to stay alive for me.”
I shake my head, desperate